HVAC systems are present in a wide range of residential and commercial buildings. In residential buildings such as houses and townhouses, the HVAC equipment such as heating, cooling and ventilating equipment may be controlled by a single thermostat located within the structure itself. Some houses may have zoned HVAC and thus may have several thermostats, with each thermostat controlling a particular zone. In large residential building such as large condominium building and/or apartment building, the HVAC equipment may be either localized or centralized, and may be controlled by one or more thermostats within each space (apartment or the like).
A wide variety of commercial buildings are known. Some commercial buildings such as small to medium retail centers including strip malls, small to medium office buildings and the like may be heated, cooled and/or ventilated by a number of HVAC units. In some cases, the HVAC units are roof-top units, but this is not required. Some buildings may have a significant number of HVAC units and a significant number of corresponding HVAC controllers such as thermostats. Installation, operation and monitoring of such HVAC systems can be complicated. Thus, a need remains for HVAC control systems that are scalable for a variety of different applications, that are easy to use and that are cost-effective.